17th Annual Dresden Melon Festival

DRESDEN, OH – Get ready to sink your teeth into a day of fun at the Dresden Melon Festival on Saturday, August 3rd.

Held at the Dresden River Park, the festivities will kick off at 9:30 A.M. with a 5 or 10K race, and continues until 11 P.M., making it a perfect family-friendly outing celebrating Dresden’s proud melon-growing history.

“It actually started with a 5K 17 years ago. Then, they had such a turnout that they said, ‘hey why don’t we do something to make a festival out of it?’ and we had some local growers of watermelon and cantaloupe, and then they got together and that’s how it started,” Melon Fest Chairperson, Mellisa Stanford said.

This year’s festival is jam-packed with activities for everyone including a fishing tournament, live music, a silent auction, food vendors, a beer garden, and of course the Melon Derby at 1PM, where decorated melons race to the finish line.

“The kids will put together a melon and it will have four wheels on it. They’ll put it on a platform and then they race. We actually have prizes for everybody who enters. There’s a five dollar for anybody who actually participates, and then we have a first, second, and third prize. We have also a most unique, creative, melon derby car that we’re doing this year,” Stanford said.

The fishing tournament will begin at 5 AM and the weigh-in at 2 PM. For more information and updates, check out the Dresden Melon Festival Facebook page.

The Dresden Melon Fest supports the Friends of the Dresden Parks. They’d like to thank their sponsors, J & S Maintenance for sponsoring the Melon Derby, and Susie Schneider at Rochelle’s Barber Shop for sponsoring the Melon Eating Contest.